Nonfiction Commons^™

The Lantern, 2024-2025, Gianna Mccarthy, Naila Twyman, Catherine Stump, Keegan Mcgowan, Owen Fazzini, Leo Quinn, Danny Mcgrath, Antara Dabral, Mason Jolivette, Hailey Clark, Rachel Wascoe, Miara Truog Sebouhian, Livia M. Nocito, Anita Farrell, Ash Hawkes, Olivia Christina Mae Neri, Izabella Entrekin, Andrew Mihniak, Jacob Sheiner, Matilda Dumaine, Gregory Devinis, Amber Leech, Nia Johnson, Christopher Gerrow, Derek Matarazzo, Sidney Belleroche, Ze'ev Shaheen, Madeline O'Connor, Sharon Gearhart, Abigail Prince, Vienna Gurev, Bill O'Keefe, Matthew Wisecarver, Michael Nieves-Hoblin, Shiloh Bloom, Kelsey Lyons, Emily Britland, Paige R. Dickerman, Elliott Hannam, Aidan Nadell

The Lantern Literary Magazines, 1933 to Present

Advice of a Woman • Only • The Hole • America's Grandchildren • Car Exhaust • Stamped On • Helen • Sacrifice Divine • in some future time • Liquid Fire • My Deepest Apologies • Nightlife • On Angels • Trigger Warning • Can I Paint You a Hypothetical? • The Garden • The Ghost Orchard • The Middle • The Stranger • Tide • Unrest • we often speak of abusive remembrance • Bitters • Blind Date • Brother's Keeper • Cooking Tutorial • The Reservation • I Caught a Moose in a Mouse Trap • It Came …

Midlife, Lauren Doyle Owens

The Lindenwood Review: a journal of literary prose

No abstract provided.

Amber, Melissa Nelson

The Lindenwood Review: a journal of literary prose

No abstract provided.

First Who Knew, A. M. Gray

The Lindenwood Review: a journal of literary prose

No abstract provided.

Slow Down, Breathe In, Hit Hard., Jo Underwood

The Lindenwood Review: a journal of literary prose

No abstract provided.

Live In Fragments, Matthew Frye-Castillo

The Lindenwood Review: a journal of literary prose

No abstract provided.

Memoir In Transient Moments, Adrian S. Potter

The Lindenwood Review: a journal of literary prose

No abstract provided.

What Remains, Thelma Zirkelbach

The Lindenwood Review: a journal of literary prose

No abstract provided.

The Man Behind The Dumpster, Kyle Cochrun

The Lindenwood Review: a journal of literary prose

No abstract provided.

Up The Ladder, Down The Snake, Ray Kruger

The Lindenwood Review: a journal of literary prose

No abstract provided.

The Untold Story Of A Heart Surgeon, Naomi Josiah

Emerging Writers

When it comes to picking a career, many think of money or passion but sometimes it takes an experience to shape your future career. That experience for me happen to changed my entire trajectory on life but it also happened to be the reason I want to be a Cardiac Surgeon.

Coffee Shops And Community, Julia A. Franz

Emerging Writers

This paper focuses on the role of coffeehouses as community hubs through a comparative analysis of two locations of a locally owned coffee company in Georgia. It examines how the physical design and values of each shop offer unique forms of social interaction. The St. Simons location encourages spontaneous, intergenerational conversations; while, the Brunswick shop strengthens pre-existing community ties among working families and retirees. The profile explains how, by incorporating local history, sustainable sourcing, and communal spaces, the coffee company shows how design and principles shape social dynamics. This profile highlights how coffeehouses can serve as more than commercial spaces …

The Dirt Underneath My Fingernails: The American Pastoral And 21st-Century Food System Reform, Annabella Isaacson

Scripps Senior Theses

The following is an amalgamation of my experiences personally and vested interests academically, and is meant to be read as just that. As a thesis that combines Environmental Analysis and Writing & Rhetoric degrees, this project challenges traditional academic forms by integrating creative nonfiction and poetry with academic writing and analysis. This thesis attempts to fuse the academic and personal essay into one cohesive piece. The inconclusive nature of the narratives and explorations that follow are intended to represent my process in grappling with the histories and significance of American pastoral literature through the ways in which this genre has …

Milk Tooth, 2025, Eddie Anderson, Sadie House, Jay Clark, Ravyn Oliver, Edwin Mayo, Joseph Kettelhodt, Kaitlyn Seibel, Daniel Mcnellis, Elise Fladeboe, Ivy Matejcek, Trinity Johnson, Eve Gwendolyn Hansen, Liz Fisher, Emma Niessink, Hannah Lewis

Milk Tooth

"Writings by Bemidji State University Students". Sponsored by the Bemidji State University English Department.

Threshold: Stories & Graphic Memoir, Emily Kay Lewandowski

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Threshold: Stories & Graphic Memoir, a collection of fiction and graphic memoir, explores the in-between stages of loss and grief. Both the fiction and graphic memoir pieces utilize the technique of the “narrative echo,” coined by John Gardner, to stylistically explore and interrogate these stages of in-betweenness. The final piece in this collection, “I Hope You Find Me On Mars,” is a queer expansion of Octavia Butler’s trilogy Lilith’s Brood. Each piece uses unique voice and styling to contribute to the larger literary community by interrogating manifestations of identity, queerness, and grief.

Hit-And-Runs: A Memoir, Alison Cope

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The vignettes in this collection are memoir essays connected by the theme of hit-and-runs – i.e., random life encounters in which people share bits of themselves and leave subsequent lasting impressions. Resonating with themes of identity and belonging, overcoming obstacles and taking risks, the chronological throughline visits unique locations around the world, and frequently “hits” historical events, while tracing the narrator’s coming-of-age and spiritual journey from the mountains of Appalachia to the streets of Prague and home to Houston, as she “runs” with carnies and psychics, hurricane refugees, lovers, and predators from whom she must escape. Interspersed in these memoirs …

Anti-Thesis: When Your Worst Moments Become Your Best Work, Abigail Williamson

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

My honors capstone project expands the creative work of a major writing assignment in English 3170: Successful Freelance Magazine Writing, which was modeled after Susan Shapiro’s “Humiliation Essay.” Shapiro’s signature assignment encourages students to write about an embarrassing or upsetting moment with the aim to force sincerity and humility. She writes, “It encourages students to shed vanity and pretension and relive an embarrassing moment that makes them look silly, fearful, fragile or naked.” The humiliation essay, she claims, often leads to publication because the conflict of the assignment inspires writers, and the narrator’s self-insight that occurs during the process of …

The Lantern, 2023-2024, Grace Wurzer, Naila Twyman, Owen Fazzini, Catherine Stump, Aiden Jones, Keegan Mcgowan, Nanditha Vinod, Olivia Cross, Tatiana Kent, Sidney Belleroche, Zach Devita-Paulson, Christopher Gerrow, Morgan Grabowski, Leyna Maio, Derek Matarazzo, Madeline O'Connor, Luke Peloquin, Ze'ev Shaheen, Hana Yolacan, Mary Mcnabb, Mary Lobo, Hannah Conley, Matilda Dumaine, Mairead Mcdermott, Abigail Prince, Livia M. Nocito, Heather Reitnauer, Ashley Adam, Ryan Bernier, Erin Corcoran, Leo Cox, Julia Decamp, Izabella Entrekin, Georgia Gardner, Emily Gurganus, Amber Leech, Kelsey Lyons, Aurora Mckee, Amy Smith, Miara Truog Sebouhian

The Lantern Literary Magazines, 1933 to Present

"God," worship, and damnation in the font of my body • The Men in My Life • Vagabond Fishermen • Unfinished Elegy • Big Game • Bitters • On the Ferris Wheel • Ruffling Feathers • Haunted House • Dragon in the Pond • Saint Sebastian • The Last Supper • The Perfect Babka • Session • Sunrise • Dish Dog • A Love Letter to Hands • In Memoriam: Mary Lobo '15 • Champagne • Resting Place • Balance • An Arboreal Requiem • Moving Forward • Bye-Bye Beach Days • Portofino • The Moth on My Dashboard • …

Retail Therapy, Isabella Garces

The Lindenwood Review: a journal of literary prose

No abstract provided.

Falling Back To Earth, Geoff Watkinson

The Lindenwood Review: a journal of literary prose

No abstract provided.

Inheritance, Joan Lange

The Lindenwood Review: a journal of literary prose

No abstract provided.

Without, Linda Caradine

The Lindenwood Review: a journal of literary prose

No abstract provided.

Between A Lake And A Mountain, Natalie Marino

The Lindenwood Review: a journal of literary prose

No abstract provided.

My Father Has Always Been Dying, Ella Segall

The Lindenwood Review: a journal of literary prose

No abstract provided.

All Of It Burns, Laura Young

The Lindenwood Review: a journal of literary prose

No abstract provided.

Milk Tooth, 2024, Bemidji State University, Eddie Anderson, Caroline Bender, Connor Brahms, Kendra Carriere, Shawn Cruze, Madelyn Dakken, Liz Fisher, Donovan Floyd, Brooke Froehle, Eve Gwendolyn Hansen, Gordon Hess, Sadie House, Iris Jensen, Lacey Lacey, Hannah Lewis, Marissa Marxhausen, Izzy Mcclintic, Jenika Moen, Emma Niessink, Grace Roecker, Lauren Winkelman, Nicholas Wolter

Milk Tooth

"Writings by Bemidji State University Students."  Sponsored by the Bemidji State University English Department.

Autophonia: A Memoir In Essays, Amy Blanchard

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Looking For The Exit Door, Nicole Kowalewski

Honors Senior Capstones and Theses

No abstract provided.

Breathing Hard In Beautiful Places, Lars Chinburg

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Chinburg, Lars, M.S., Spring 2024

Breathing Hard in Beautiful Places, Abstract

In Breathing Hard in Beautiful Places, Lars Chinburg explores his connections to the people and places that have made him who he is in a collection of personal essays. The collection is inspired by the talents of many writers–Bill Bryson’s wry travel observations, Norman Maclean’s lyricism on the interplay of nature and family, Sigurd Olson’s gorgeous descriptions of place, and David Sedaris’ knack for drawing hilarity out of the prosaic, among many others.

Many of the essays touch on the power of play as a force for good and …

Reflections From A Maternity Leave: The Complex History Of Beaver Dam Flats And Refinery Park, Emily Ursuliak

The Goose

A personal essay reflecting on my relationship with Refinery Park and Beaver Dam Flats in light of its complex history.